Gardiner Angus Ranch Announces the Passing of GAR Sure Fire
January 11, 2024
Gardiner Angus Ranch announces the passing of GAR Sure Fire (17328461). Sure Fire joins a generation of legendary sires that changed the course of genetic progress for progressive beef producers around the world.
Joe Mayer, one of the most critical thinking commercial cattlemen of his day, and an early adopter of using objective data to improve his cow herd, found Sure Fire as a 14-month-old bull selling in the 34th Annual Spring Sale and purchased him with a $36,000 winning bid. When Sure Fire sold in the spring of 2013, he ranked in the upper percentiles of the Angus breed for all the traits of economic importance. Today, as a 12-year-old sire with more than 310 carcass records and several thousand Angus herd improvement records from his progeny, Sure Fire still ranks in the top 15% of the Angus breed for calving ease and top 4% of the breed for marbling.
Sure Fire’s relevance to the beef industry continues today. As one of the leading sires in the Select Sires beef lineup for a decade, more than 180,000 units of Sure Fire semen have been sold leaving thousands of tremendous females with documented reproductive excellence around the world. Sure Fire anchors the pedigrees of many current GAR sires today, including GAR Apex, Fireproof and Home Run, and the dam’s side in pedigrees of countless donor females. Currently, Sure Fire has 2,581 daughters on record working in 515 registered herds, and additional thousands of females working in commercial herds around the world. Sure Fire continues to be a high use Angus sire in many commercial cow-calf operations today as evidenced by the remarkable sales of 5,000 units of semen in 2023. Commercial cow-calf producers recognize the value of a 12-year-old sire still ranking in the top 24% for Retained Ownership Income (ROI), top 29% for Quality Pounds Index (QPI) and top 24% Maternal Production Index (MPI) in the unique Method Genetics database.
Mark Gardiner summarized the legacy of Sure Fire recently when he said, “Henry Gardiner developed our system of unwavering discipline in using progeny proven, high accuracy Angus sires for all the traits of economic importance more than 60 years ago. Following ‘Henry’s Rules’ have enabled GAR to breed legendary sires that will forever define quality and performance of Angus cattle. We are also grateful, after fulfilling their mission, to retire many of these sires back home to the ranch in Ashland, Kansas, where they live the remainder of their lives grazing our pastures.”
Gardiner Angus Ranch is a family-owned and operated beef operation that produces registered and commercial Angus cattle. The original ranch was homesteaded near Ashland, Kansas, in 1885 by Henry Gardiner’s grandfather. Today, Gardiner Angus Ranch is one of the largest registered Angus seedstock and commercial operations in America and continues to make genetic advancements using only artificial insemination and embryo transfer.